How to Help Prevent Cyberstalking

Updated on December 22, 2025.

Although you can’t fully stop cyberstalking from happening, there are several ways you can try to prevent it from affecting you. You can help prevent cyberstalking by protecting your data with a password manager, staying private on social media and not oversharing online. Cyberstalking is targeted, constant surveillance that occurs when a cyberstalker uses online tools to track, scare or watch their victims. Unlike cyber harassment, which generally involves direct and aggressive interactions, cyberstalking is characterized by the cyberstalker’s intent to collect information and study online behavioral patterns over an extended period. What makes cyberstalking especially concerning is how little is needed to start. Small details that are publicly available, such as tagged locations, photo backgrounds or comments on social media posts, can be enough for someone to monitor your online activity. 

Continue reading to learn five things you can do to help protect yourself from cyberstalking and what to do if you think you’re being cyberstalked.

1. Improve your password hygiene

Cyberstalkers try to gain unauthorized access to email and social media accounts because they provide insight into your daily activities, familiar contacts and private conversations. If you use weak or reused passwords, cyberstalkers may be able to use them to gain visibility into the sensitive areas of your online life.

To reduce the risk of cyberstalking, use a strong, unique password for every account. Each password should be at least 16 characters long and include a combination of uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers and symbols. A password manager like Keeper^® can help you improve password hygiene by generating strong passwords and securely storing them in an encrypted, digital vault.

2. Set social media profiles to private

Public social media profiles give cyberstalkers direct access to your photos, routines, friends and life updates. This information can be used to track your online activities or build a detailed picture of your life. By setting your social media accounts to private on platforms like Instagram and Facebook, you can significantly limit who can see your content and minimize the amount of sensitive information exposed to strangers.

Only accept friend or follow requests from people you know and trust in real life, rather than from strangers. This stops cyberstalkers from blending in with your audience under misleading profiles. In addition, disabling location tagging on new posts and removing geotags from older content can reduce the risk of unintentionally sharing where you are or where you frequent.

3. Remove personal information from people search sites

People search sites like Whitepages collect and publish Personally Identifiable Information (PII), including your home address, family members and phone number. While these sites claim to gather PII from public records for convenience, they also make sensitive information easy for cyberstalkers to access and exploit.

To protect yourself, start by searching your name online and seeing what information appears. If you find your PII listed, follow the site’s opt-out process to remove it manually, or use a reputable service that requests removals on your behalf. Reducing your visibility on people search sites is an effective way to limit real-world risk.

4. Avoid oversharing online

Even unintentionally oversharing online can give cyberstalkers a detailed visual of your online habits, locations and vulnerabilities. Each post you make about where you are, what you’re doing or who you’re with helps someone build a clearer picture of your routines. To stay safer online, avoid sharing your daily schedule, upcoming travel plans or live check-ins with geotags.

When using forums, dating apps or video game platforms, choose anonymous usernames that don’t reveal anything about your identity and aren’t connected to your social media accounts. Be mindful of what you share regarding family members, especially children, to reduce the likelihood of someone identifying or tracking them. Maintaining a positive digital footprint significantly reduces the information a cyberstalker can exploit.

5. Use a VPN on public WiFi

Public WiFi networks, like those in coffee shops, hotels and airports, are highly vulnerable to cyber attacks because they lack strong encryption. Cyberstalkers can carry out Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attacks to intercept traffic, capture your login credentials or learn your IP address, which can reveal your approximate location.

Using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts your internet connection, preventing those on the same network from accessing your sensitive information or monitoring your online activity. VPNs also mask your IP address, making it more difficult for cyberstalkers to track your online activity and location.

What to do if you’re being cyberstalked

If you suspect you’re being cyberstalked, you must act quickly and carefully to protect your digital and real-world safety. Taking the following steps can help you secure your accounts, collect evidence and involve the appropriate authorities:

Avoid cyberstalking with Keeper^®

Protecting yourself from cyberstalking starts with cybersecurity best practices that limit the information others can exploit. One of the most important proactive measures you can take is securing your online accounts with strong, unique passwords. Keeper helps you do this by generating, storing and managing your passwords, making it easier to stay protected online and less likely to become a victim of cyber harassment.

Start your free trial of Keeper today to strengthen your cyber hygiene and stay safe from the dangers of cyberstalking.